Thomas Tuchel has just taken his press conference ahead of the Carabao Cup game against Aston Villa tomorrow, and the Chelsea boss confirmed some bad team news that we had already suspected.
Goalkeeper Edu Mendy took a nasty knock in the Champions League game against Zenit St Petersburg, and didn’t recover in time to face Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.
Tuchel on Mendy facing Man City: "It's a race against the pain and time. We hope he trains on Thursday so he can be back for Saturday." #CFC https://t.co/Q36eSFPoP7
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) September 21, 2021
Now Tuchel has ruled him out for this cup game – and potentially further matches after that.
“Mendy cannot play and he is not training so far. We will do what he can for Saturday… it’s a race against the pain and time.”
In all honesty, Kepa might well have played tomorrow’s game even if Mendy was fit. Tuchel has shown a preference to rotate his keepers more than some other managers.
But there’s no doubt the Senegal star would have been in nets for the huge game against Man City. If he misses that, that’s a big blow for this team’s title aspirations.
Kepa kept a clean sheet against Spurs – but there’s no doubt that City will test him more.